How to restore a staircase in a French farmhouse - one step at a time

A staircase is a practical necessity in any house with an upper storey, but it can also be an attractive feature in its own right.

If you acquire a property in neglected condition, the chances are that you will have to pay attention to the stairs as a priority, if only for moving up and down your work site without ladders and scaffolding. 

If the old staircase is far gone to rot and worm, you have three options. You could get a carpenter to make a new staircase or buy a ready-made, soulless one.

Far better, if you have the time and patience, is to save what you can of the existing staircase and recreate the original.

My neighbour, for example, was keen to keep the staircase in the old farmhouse he bought. Every carpenter he asked for a quote wanted to replace it entirely, but he did not want to do that, so it became a DIY labour of love.

The basics of stairs

If you are going to work on a staircase, it is best to begin by understanding the basic structure and terminology.

A staircase is a marvel of engineering. Two broad, oblique stringers (limons) carry the thing up to the next floor – or more commonly, a landing.

These are joined by horizontal treads (marches) and backed by vertical risers (contremarches). A banister (balustrade or rampe d’appui) is an essential safety feature to prevent the user from falling into space on the far side of the stairs. This begins and ends with newel posts (the poteau de départ and poteau d’arrivée).

My enterprising neighbour surveyed the damage and decided that he could keep the stringers, newel posts and banister at least, after treating them with insecticide. However, the actual steps – the treads and risers – would have to be replaced.

He considered making them in oak but the price was prohibitive. The local woodyard suggested he use Douglas fir instead.

When he measured the old staircase, he found that everything about it was irregular, which is the way with all things in old houses.

He therefore ordered planks a bit longer than he needed – at 1.20m – which he could cut in situ to fit exactly.

The old steps were roughly 3cm thick. Their replacements came at 3.5cm so they could be planed to size before sanding.

Working upwards, each piece of timber had to be adapted to the idiosyncrasies of the stringers to either side.

Once past the landing, he had to make new balusters because the staircase had ended abruptly in a double trapdoor instead of continuing on to first-floor level.

Once he had reached the top, he turned his attention to the bottom step, which is the most conspicuous of all.

He replaced the rotten piece of wood with a chunky piece of oak left over from work done on the roof, rounded for aesthetic reasons around the base of the newel post.

Finally, he tested his new-old staircase for solidity and added an extra upright to make it more stable.

Only one thing had to be changed in the original plan. The mixture of old and new timber made the finish look very uneven. He decided to give the whole thing a coat of floor paint to unify it.

The result is a staircase that retains the quirky spirit of the original but is fit for modern living and will survive the tramp of many feet for many years to come.